ONE NIGHT IN BETHLEHEM BY KENNETH WYMEN I love how this very short biblical fiction story starts with Micah working in the stable, filling the trough with fresh hey. He had no idea he was preparing Yeshua's bed!
The Rundown
This story is short & sweet, an estimated 29 pages in print length and only cost 99¢ at the time of this review. Free on Kindle Unlimited. It faithfully adheres to the Biblical story no major twists, but a few smaller, thought provoking surprises. I DO Recommend it. Let's look at it with Fiction Story/Christian Story eyes.
Fiction Story
Micah is the inn keeper. Yes, that in keeper. The night is going well, all three of his rooms are full. He is housing a Rabi, a Roman merchant and an elderly couple from Nazareth.
When Mary and Joseph show up, Micah has no room to offer, yet he cannot simply turn them away on account of Mary's advanced pregnancy. He asks his tenants, one by one, if they are willing to give up their room.
There are no spoilers in telling you that no one was willing to give up their room. But for the sake of spoiling the story I must refrain from telling you why each tenant refused.
Their responses would lead us into the Christian Story, because after all, our response to Yeshua is central in Christianity.
But first here are a few questions & hints to ponder about the tenants
Why might a Rabi refuse to give up his room? - Hint: Micah disturbed his prayers
Why would a Roman Merchant turn them away? Hint: key word Roman
Why did the elderly couple refuse to give up their room? Hint: they happen to be from Nazareth, a very small town.
Christian Story
Having "no crib for a bed" The baby Yeshua is born in the stable and laid to rest in the manger. That alone makes it a highly unusual night for Micah, but it gets stranger when a few local shepherds show up in the wee hours of the morning.
The shepherds have a wild story to tell. Micah believes the story, so much that he rushes to the Rabi's room before sunrise to tell him the good news. A Rabi would want to hear such a story, wouldn't he?
I could not help but think of the difference between the tenants and the shepherds. One set of people turned Yeshua away, the other came seeking - And the obvious difference is that wild story!
It might be fair to say the tenants were blindsided, while the shepherds were blinded by the light of angels. It might be easy to fault the tenants for not being alert to the coming savior, as if we would have been.
It is also easy to forget that the shepherds and we, Christians, come because He was first declared to us. Just like the shepherds who had the miracle of angels. We have the miracle of the Holy Spirit drawing us. - There was a miracle in Bethlehem that night, as is the case every time someone comes to Christ.
I will not spoil the story with details, but I was able to guess the gist of the Rabi's response. As Micah stood, disillusioned outside the Rabi's door, I began to wonder how the story might end.
There is a trouble authors often have in Biblical fiction, namely the balance between the fictional story and the Biblical story. I have read such stories that ended too heavily on one side or the other, either abandoning the fiction and concluding as a mere retelling of the story, or worse, killing the biblical story with the fiction.
I believe KENNETH WYMEN did a fine job with the ending. Micah made his way back to the stable and the story ended on a contemplative note; contemplative for a non-believer, rhetorical for the believer.
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